Alchemical Symbolism in the VMS

[davidjackson]

I still haven't found any mention to any cipher being found in works by Alderotti.
What I have tracked down is an earlier work that is believed to have inspired him, which was in wide circulation amongst the monasteries and alchemists of the time. It is a collection of recipes and instructions on making alcohol known as the Mappae Calvicula. There exists a 12th century version of this work which is partially enciphered by a simple letter shift cipher masking key ingredients, a standard rubric obfuscation method of the time. (Smith & Hawthorne, TAPS n.s. 64.4; Mappae Calvicula: A little key to the world of medieval techniques).
Alderotti is believed to have used the Mapae instructions, which by then were standard and well known, and improved upon the process.